Question 13: Can we pay for our own sins?

 

Question 13: Can we pay for our own sins?

Answer: Absolutely not. In fact, we simply increase our sins every day.

Today, Christian doctrine speaks of the nature of sin: "The first sin came into existence when man ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating it became sin because God forbade it." The doctrine also states that the cause of the first sin was the temptation of the serpent, which planted the seeds of distrust and unbelief in man's heart. As a result, man lost the image of God, that is, righteousness, holiness, and the true knowledge of God.

The position is that "unbelief in the heart" is the cause of sin, but not the origin of sin.

However, original sin was the greedy desire to become like God, before eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (failure to keep the commandments). Humanists misunderstand sin as breaking the commandments. They believe that disobeying God's command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the beginning of sin. However, the origin of sin is the desire to become like God (greed). The first person to sin in the Garden of Eden was Eve. Eve is the model of those who left God because they wanted to become like Him.

Since disobeying God's commands is considered the root of sin, keeping the commandments can be accepted as not being sinful. No matter how thoroughly you try to keep the commandments, it's impossible to eliminate the greed of the heart. Therefore, the commandment is to die to that greed. However, the Pharisees believed that keeping the commandments meant they were free from sin. This is similar to those in today's church communities who daily examine themselves to see if they are sinning and thus strive to avoid it.

The Bible speaks of two types of sin: the original sin of greed, the desire to become like God, and the worldly sin that stems from that original sin. Worldly sin is the transgression of the law, while original sin is the sin of opposing God before the law.

So, God tells humans to die to sin. Romans 6:7 says, "For he who has died has been set free from sin." Dying does not mean the death of the body, but rather the death of the flesh (fresh), the root of greed. The Apostle Paul also said, "I die daily." However, we are not beings who can die on our own. We believe that we have died by relying on and uniting with someone.